Study: Marketing Most Important Business Profession

According to a survey of U.S. senior executives, marketing will be the most important area of expertise for the next-generation of business leaders. The survey was commissioned by the Institute of International Research, organizers of LEADERS LIVE -- a two-day forum on strategic leadership that will take place in New York City on June 13-14, 2005 .

Of the responses from more than 1,300 business executives, marketing was the clear choice with 29 percent of votes, followed by 22 percent for operations and 14 percent for financial expertise. Sales and engineering were deemed least critical to leadership with 8 percent each. Seems there's hope for us advertising folk.